Elizabeth Johnson is a Ghanaian –Nigerian avid reader and lover of the Creative Arts. She is also a writer and has worked with various online platforms as an editor and content creator. She also produces a literary radio show and has worked as a festival administrator. Her story was featured in the 2017 Independence anthology by Afridiaspora. Her play has been staged by African Theater Workshop and she is the 2018 winner of the Random Thoughts writing Prize.

It is difficult to imagine that after gaining freedom from a system that once suppressed and brought one pain physically and mentally, one will return to it. But for some enslaved Africans, this was the reality they had to live with.

By the turn of the 1800s, many slave rebellions and demonstrations by brave enslaved Africans had taken place and began to cause fear and panic among plantation owners and merchants whose vast wealth depended on the slave trade. Several African Americans had gained their freedom and started to live a life of their own despite the slow progress they were making due to the many social structures that worked against them.

While some fortunate blacks were able to stand the test of time and survive on their own after being free from enslavement, the sad truth is several others could not and had to take up the scary option of returning into slavery, a system they had for many years stripped off the dignity of black people.